


Unfortunate

by Tezca



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who RPF
Genre: Alternative World, Awkwardness, Gen, grumpy Five, mentions of bigotry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 07:17:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16551383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tezca/pseuds/Tezca
Summary: For the Fifth Doctor curiosity always ends in either danger or a testy mood.





	Unfortunate

**Author's Note:**

> I bought Peter Davison's autobiography for kindle a while back and while I was reading it, I noticed he wrote a couple of paragraphs imagining the Fifth Doctor going out of the Tardis to see the house where (I assume) Peter grew up in as a kid. Another one had Five from afar watching his parents back when they were dating and on the porch of his mother's parents house. And I wanted to write something inspired from that.

This was supposed to be a fun trip. A fun little trip to an alternative universe where his adventures was apparently a tv show. The idea of it fascinated him to be honest. In a weird and surreal sort of way. Who played him? Who played his companion? Did they get everything exactly right or did they exaggerate most of them? The latter theory the Doctor felt like it was the more probable case. But as an optimist, he was sure any deviations would be minor. As long as this tv show got the gist of it, he was alright. These questions had set off his curiosity, so he and Peri jovially went of seeing if such a universe existed.

It did. And as irritatingly expected as it is for the Doctor and crew, things went south. Only after one day, must be a new record. Though to be fair it isn’t as bad as some of the other problems they’ve encountered in the past. Or scratch that, perhaps just as bad. Just in another way. Apparently, the whatchamacallit part of the Tardis that allowed travel across alternative worlds was broken. Which meant until it was fixed, he and Peri were stranded here a few alternative dimensions from their home universe. 

Not to say they didn’t look at the positives. No encounter with an alien with a cliche plan to take over Earth. No run in with any Cybermen or Daleks. Really the only problem up until now was finding enough 1980’s British currency for them to use while they walked around London (the Doctor marveled over just how similar it looked to the version he knew). Thank god the 100 pounds they’ve found matched up enough to the currency in this version of Earth.

Or, to be franker, there weren’t any problems to be had prior in Peri’s perspective. No problem they can’t handle. But there was one small thing that did nothing but confused her. She noticed the Doctor was a little more tensed up. A little grumpier than usual, but nothing she hadn’t already seen from her parents. Or felt herself for that matter, especially during her teen years. Anyone she knew back then were known to have the normal amount of grumpiness every now and then. Everyone has their off days, even celery wearing Time Lords. 

And she didn’t want to say uptight exactly, but he looked more at unease than normal. Perhaps uncharacteristically more uneased? But then again she hadn’t known him for very long. She what, only knew him for five minutes compared to Turlough. Was it Turlough? Yeah, his name was Turlough. Peri reasoned something happened when she was asleep in her bedroom. The Doctor did say he might take a couple of short trips to catch a quick glimpse into the past of his actor. An actor who played him, imagine that! The curiosity was too much for him as usual. Peri had elected to get some rest.

The mood was primarily the factor why they both decided to split the money 50-50, and meet back in an hour and a half. He wanted to be alone and Peri understood completely. She got the clue and disengaged after a failed attempt to ask what happened. He dismissed it as nothing, but Peri rolled her eyes to herself. Clearly, something happened between before she went to bed and now. Annoyed her in a way that he didn’t want to talk about it. Finally, a new connection she can finally make between the Doctor and a member of her family she sarcastically thought. But she would be a hypocrite if she didn’t understand the mood in general.

And now the scene is the current point of time. The Doctor was underneath the console. He was on his back and halfway inside one of the spaces filled with wires and circuits. He had taken off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. Unfortunately, the room was not filled with the blessed sound of silence. Or well, blessed silence cut only by his muttered string of Gallifreyan cussing. Instead, the air was filled with the sound of bickering. And to say it merely annoyed him would be an understatement. He’d be only at that level if he wasn’t still somewhat shaken up by something awkward that involved his actor’s family. 

Instead, he found the background noise had grated on his nerves. It was irritatingly reminiscent of the fights between Tegan and Turlough (or Adric). That didn’t help matters much as well.

“...no that isn’t what I meant at all!” A defensive voice rang out. 

It belonged to a fair-haired man who looked and sounded exactly the same as the Doctor. Except that his name was Peter Davison, and he was human. The Doctor would've allowed himself to feel the almost surrealness of it all, but his mood and the problem at hand wouldn’t let him.

The same voice continued,“I’m just...um, I just think the producer of the show is trying to hard to appeal to another country. I think it’s the whole...Britishness of the show that Americans have come to love. The bad sets, cheesy effects-“ Peter stammered out awkwardly. 

He perhaps maybe shouldn’t phrase it as ‘I think it was a completely bad idea to create an American companion.’ 

Or to go one step further, he just should’ve not impulsively shared his opinion. List number #514 on the list of mistakes he made since he started his career. Peri rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. 

She snapped, “Oh shut up! You just want your stupid sci-fi show to be nothing more than an exclusive British club!” 

“That’s not what it is! Look-”

“Variety means more than just people from different places in jolly old England!” 

Peri put on a mock British accent to make her point. Peter just sighed. Idiot why can’t have he put it in a better way. Stupid stupid, always think before you speak.

“I don’t have any problems with Americans, shit I’m married to one!” Peter yelled in a more higher pitch voice.

“So you’re married to one?!” 

"Like that makes this any less silly to object to!” Peri matched his volume level, with added sarcasm to boot.

The Doctor stopped what he was doing and slid out. He frankly had enough of the incessant arguing. He stood up, put his hands on the console and immediately yelled authoritatively.

“Peter your dad is from Guyana, you’re half American! Now be quiet! Both of you!” 

He finished it off with a stern finger pointed at both Peri and Peter before he ducked back under.

Meanwhile, the other two stood in frozen stunned silence. They felt shaken by the abruptness of it. Especially Peri. That was unexpected, to say the least. Caught them both off guard long enough to forget the heated argument. Or at least to have it lost enough fire to keep it fueled. 

Now the tension in the air was replaced by awkwardness. Peri honestly didn’t know what to do exactly now, this was a first. She hadn’t been on the receiving end of an outburst from the Doctor before.  
She tentatively walked around the console before she asked, “Um, Doctor? Are you alright?” She cautiously asked. 

Peter, meanwhile, stayed behind in his spot.

“Not really. In fact, I would like silence for the time being,” He replied without coming back out from the mess of wires, “I need to be able to concentrate on fixing this dimension regulator and it would help if I don’t have to hear any petty human squabbling.”

“Alright, fine. We’ll be in the kitchen then.” Peri resignedly replied. 

She still wasn’t sure what to say. Her mind still stuck on what just happened. To be honest, she got the vibe that they should give him some space. 

She motioned at Peter to follow her towards the door. It wasn’t until they were a good distance from the door when he spoke, a slightly confused expression on his face.

“He said I was...half American?” 

Peri didn’t make much of a hurry to lead them to the kitchen on account she was still shaken up. And by the lost and confused look in Peter’s face, so was he.

“Isn’t Guyana in South America?”

Peter felt like there was an unspoken ‘dummy’ or ‘idiot’ tacked at the end. He put his hands in his pockets and awkwardly cleared his throat. The Doctor was correct in that respect then he guessed.

“Right.”

He leaned up against the wall in the hallway.

“I strangely feel like I pissed off my folks.”

Peri agreed. She didn’t grow up in a bad home, far from it. But she can remember a similar sort of voice used whenever she was in deep trouble as a kid. The kind that every kid universally knew as ‘Shit, I screwed up bad and now I’m gonna be grounded for life.’ The Doctor’s outburst reminded her a little of that. Enough to make her feel bad about the whole thing.  
_____________________

The subject was long forgotten by the time they entered the kitchen and sat down at the table. They didn’t really speak for a good few minutes. They both didn’t know what to talk about next. Obviously, it would be a bad idea all the way around if they continued the conversation from earlier. It would feel plain silly in the scheme of things to bring it up again. 

“You know how undignified and embarrassing it feels to have essentially yourself telling you off like that?” Peter admitted. 

Peri leaned into her hand with her arm propped up on the table. The Doctor was in the right to tell them to shut up in hindsight. However, it didn’t diminish the weird emotion still in his gut any less. He got shaken up good, to say the least.

“I imagine it would be more like having your twin yell at you like that. The Doctor just happens to look and sound like you, but he’s alien.”

At least this new conversation seemed to be going relatively alright off the bat. He felt like he hadn’t inadvertently bumbled up anything verbally. 

“To you maybe. But to me, the Doctor is just a character that I play on tv. It’s...different than if he was just my hypothetical twin.”

Peter still also felt like this whole experience was nothing more but a dream. And the same can be said for Peri. Her mind still can’t wrap itself around this completely. The fact that somewhere out there, all these adventures through and space was nothing more than a fictional tv show. And she and the Doctor was nothing more but a character in said tv show. Weirdly though her mind was stuck more on the fact the Doctor shouted at them to be quiet. She hadn’t been through that before. Even indirectly.

“He even looks like the same age as me.” Peter made a late addendum in a casual voice. He leaned back on his chair while he and Peri still faced each other. 

“Can’t argue with that,” Peri conceded. 

She looked blankly down at the table for a minute before back up at Peter, “I should freak out more about this whole my life is a tv show thing.”

Peter nodded understandably, “I should freak out more about the opposite but…” He trailed off before he finished, “My character being real and the fact he yelled at me is taking precedence in my mind.”

“Same here. I need a day or two to take all this in.”

And right when Peri finished her reply, the Tardis suddenly jerked side to side. As if the ship was suddenly in rough turbulence. Probably was if she had to guess. Peter and Peri immediately gripped the table sides to support themselves. The lights also went off for a worriedly few seconds before it came back on. Just what was going on in the console room? Should they go and check? Peri didn’t know whether or not the Doctor was still in a mood. Maybe he calmed down enough to safely initiate a concerned question.  
__________________

Apparently, the Doctor connected the wrong wire. The result was the Tardis took an impromptu trip to yet another alternate dimension. The Doctor leaned on the console with his hands in his pockets. The viewing screen was up and it showed nothing but a grassy field and partly cloudy skies. According to the information from the Tardis, it was a version of Earth where London wasn’t as big as the one they all used too. Therefore outside all they can see was a big grassy field and a house in the distance. More obvious that this wasn’t Kansas so to speak, was the bright light pink colored sky.

“This isn’t, this isn’t my world,” Peter said concerned. 

He pointed at the screen while he turned to face the Doctor. The Doctor wasn’t in any mood to be amused.

“Thanks, I certainly didn’t know that until now Doctor.”

Peri picked up on the sarcasm and zeroed in on the Doctor before Peter had a chance to reply.

“Alright this is enough. What’s going on Doctor?! You’ve been like this ever since I woke up a few hours ago.”  
Peri crossed her arms and didn’t back down from her firm composer. Time to get to the bottom of this.

The Doctor took a look between Peri and his actor doppelganger before he took a resigned breath. He felt awkward even bringing it up. It had to do with Peter’s family. And said actor stood right there and this was probably gonna make him feel some kind of awkwardness. About 10 seconds passed before he replied, “I ran into Peter’s relatives.” 

“What?!” They both about said in unison.

That definitely got both of their attention and the Doctor kept going with nothing but a brief pause. Their eyes bored on him, the look in their gaze demanded an explanation. The different world can wait. The Doctor directed his gaze on Peter then at both of them.

“Curiosity always been my problem. I was curious to see where you came from and all that. I went back to 1945-”

“194-My parents were only dating at that time,” Peter exclaimed.

“Right.” 

Didn’t really help too that this explanation can come off as stalkerish. Which wasn’t the case at all. Really! It was merely out of curiosity. Who else had a chance to discover they had an actor who played him or her in another universe.

“It was the street where your grandparents lived, your parents were on the porch. I only meant to watch from a safe distance. Was just about to leave and be on my way, but….”

The Doctor stopped to exhale a little exasperated at the situation earlier.

“What happened?” Peri asked, gentler and less tensed up now.

“Did a Dalek or something followed you guys over?” Peter guessed. He still felt dazed about this whole alternative universe thing. 

“No. It was a world-hopping criminal. He wanted to drastically change up the timeline. I spotted him coming up on the road not to long after.”

“What was he doing in my world then?” 

“Simply because he thought he can get away with it. He had no rhyme or reason other than to watch the world fall into total anarchy. See aliens aren’t as prevalent in your universe, therefore he reckoned less chance of getting caught. Now don’t worry I took care of it. With help, obviously.” 

“That’s good,” Peri commented. 

Peter queried, “How?”

“By way of sending him to another universe without his equipment of course. Anyways your folks invited me in for a drink afterward as thanks,” The Doctor said, almost completely hesitate to reveal the next part, “Which was quite nice. Except I was mistaken for your mother’s boyfriend by her mother Peter.”

An unspoken ‘oh no’ was visible on Peter’s face. His face sunk. Peri felt the awkwardness. Given the time period and the attitudes back then, plus the fact his dad was from South America, well it didn’t take a huge leap to imagine what his father looked like.

There was noticeable dread in his voice, “What did she say?”

“She assumed I was your mother’s boyfriend. She asked how your mother and I met. How long we were dating and when we were going to get married. Your mom corrected her, and your grandmother sounded quite disappointed,” The Doctor explained irritatingly and finished off with a disapproved sigh. 

Peri wasn’t entirely sure what to say except empathize, “I’m sorry that happened, I would be in an irritated mood too. Some people are just...um.”

“A product of their time and unfortunately don’t know any better,” Peter finished.

Peri nodded casually, “I would hear some of that...bigoted bullshit from some of the older folk growing up in Baltimore,” She said.

Another awkward silence passed. Now it was understandable why the Doctor acted irritated and grumpy earlier. Neither of them didn’t really know what to say next. For the time being anyways, Peter was the first to speak after about 3 minutes. He still wasn’t sure how to respond but felt like he should do something. He settled for a sympathized pat on the Doctor’s back.

“If it helps any, my parents obviously stayed together. My mother didn’t follow my grandmother’s rubbish ideas about foreigners.”

A brief respite followed.

“Yes, that is true,” The Doctor agreed before he put on a smile. 

He pushed himself off the console and moved around the console to the lever that opened the doors.

“Right. I think a short break is in order. Probably do me some good.”

“Probably do all of us good. Is it safe out there?” Peri asked cautiously. 

The Doctor opened the doors, “Should be. Oxygen at familiar Earth levels, only thing different is the sky really.” 

He turned around and walked outside, “And blue clouds.”  
___________________________________________

Fortunately, they were able to able to get Peter back to his home universe. Relatively quickly to be fair in comparison to Tegan and Heathrow Airport. Sixth time the charm right? They all deceptively looked like the right universe, aside from some minor details that were off, such as everything being giant sized in one version. They didn’t even step out of the Tardis. Ok, maybe the first try was more major than minor.

The second try, however, they stepped out and was sure this Earth was it. Blue skies, white clouds. London was the right sized city. The Doctor was happy that the Tardis seemed to get to the right location sooner than usual. They said their goodbyes and were about to leave when Peter noticed the flag of England looked more like the flag of Denmark. It hung off the side of a nearby building.

Third try the Doctor had Peri and Peter stay inside the Tardis while he go out to check. He was shaken up enough by the notion he almost left Peter in the wrong universe. He didn’t want to make a grave mistake as he almost did. They both agreed and watched the Doctor on the screen in the console room. 

Turned out the Peter Davison of this world was a famous singer/songwriter instead of an actor. Which meant Peter and Peri ended up having to rescue the Doctor from a mob of teenage fangirls. 

Fourth try same deal. Peter and Peri had to step out after almost an hour and 20 minutes of no Doctor. This time the caveat was while there’s no mob of fans involved, the way this world was different disconcerted them. They noticed the difference quickly in the form of displayed clothes in a window nearby.

Apparently, celery themed clothes was the fashion trend in this alternative world. Peter made an exaggerated gagging noise and Peri giggled. She wondered what happened with the people here for them to think this looked good enough to wear.

“I hate celery!” Peter exclaimed casually. 

Peri noticed a nearby poster with a model with a white sweater and a celery pattern all over. Said model also had a piece of celery pinned to the left side of the sweater.

“You probably won’t like this then,” Peri mentioned, pointing to the poster. 

Peter was some kind of horrified when he laid eyes on it, “What the bloody hell is wrong with this world!?”

Peri laughed before she regained enough of her resolve to answer. She and Peter were on the same page here.

“I don’t know, but sooner we find the Doctor, the sooner we can get out of this hell world.” 

Peter firmly gave a single nod and agreed. Luckily they didn’t have to look too far for the Doctor. He was inside that very store and he had to be more or less dragged back to the Tardis. The Doctor had gotten lost in the wonder of a world where celery was the in thing to wear.

Finally came the sixth try and they were in the right world. The Doctor came back after 30 minutes and gave the all clear.

“I think I’ll get hit with the shock of this whole weird….situation later,” Peri admitted. 

She was surprised she hadn’t asked more questions about this. She wouldn’t know where to start anyways.

“Probably the same for me. I mean here I am saying goodbye to whom I’m used to as a fictional character in a tv show.”

Peri nodded. She still wasn’t sure what to do think about that, “Speaking of which I’m sorry I called the show stupid. Feels like I called my home universe stupid by proxy.”

Peter dismissed it and put on an assured smile, “No worries. Some folks here might agree with you I reckon,” He explained with a self-deprecated laugh.

The Doctor shook Peter’s hand with a bright smile, "It was nice to meet you Mr. Davison.”

“Same here.”

“Goodbye,” The Doctor smiled friendly.

He led Peri back into the Tardis and at the last second he turned around to face his actor, “Uhh some advice Peter, feel free to not play me as grumpy as I was earlier.”

Peter caught on fast what he referred to. The Doctor’s outburst was going to stick with him mentally for a while he felt given the circumstances. Peter nodded, he’ll get over it eventually. Well sooner than later would be nice. It would be easier in hindsight if it had happened after the end of his tenure as the Doctor. He only had one more episode to film, he’ll deal with it.

Peter thought on it for a second then spoke.

“Alright. Will do.”

The Doctor waved goodbye one final time and two seconds later the Tardis dematerialized as Peter walked off.


End file.
